LESOTHO FRIENDLY CALLED OFF, PLAYERS RELEASED FROM CAMP

MBABANE – Sihlangu’s proposed friendly game against Lesotho’s Likuena Likuena, which has been kept under wraps, was called off at the eleventh hour with players released to their respective teams yesterday.

Sihlangu, according to confirmations from Lesotho, were to play their Lesotho counterparts tonight at the Setsoto Stadium in Maseru. Reasons for the cancellation were not clear but it could be the fact that tonight’s game was to serve as Lesotho’s third in the current FIFA international week.

Lesotho recorded and emphatic 1-0 win over Zimbabwe’s ‘Warriors’ last Wednesday before Saturday’s 1-all draw away to Malawi ‘Flames’ at the Bingu National Stadium.

The squad was expected to leave their FA Technical Centre Lobamba base at 12:30pm yesterday. The National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) has struggled to secure a friendly match for Pieter de Jongh and his charges despite promises last month as the nation’s pride gears to welcome the continent’s top ranked nation Tunisia in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers next March.

“The FA would like to inform the public and all stakeholders that it has since decided to release the players from camp back to their football clubs today (yesterday), following the none success (sic) in the acquisition of an international friendly match within this FIFA Week, despite the fact that it had already tentatively secured two matches even before the start of the FIFA Week,” read a statement from the FA yesterday afternoon.